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Repair Install for Windows 7 Ultimate

Question

Hi, MCC george1009 suggested I post in this forum for guidance. I originally posted in the Windows forum yesterday. I have a hard drive running Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 32-bit OS that is now reporting as "not genuine" after a bout with some malware.
I've also had problems with the drive not allowing me to install new programs from original discs, Windows Live Mail crashed and I had to uninstall/reinstall it to fix it, and IE 9 won't link to webpages I get in a search results window. The hard drive
started life as a Vista 32-bit OS, to which I applied the Windows Home Premium upgrade via original disc, and then I used the Windows Anytime Upgrade to get it to Windows 7 Ultimate. I downloaded and applied SP1 when it came out. I need to run
a repair installation and want to do so without formatting the drive. MVP Andre Da Costa said I should be able to do this as a custom install and not formatting the drive.

My question regarding the process involves using a Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 32-bit DVD I have on hand. Its product key has been used to install the software to another computer. Will that DVD disc work for my repair/custom install purpose if the
product key I intend to use is the one from my Windows Anytime Upgrade? I bought the upgrade at a commercial retailer and it's only been applied to the hard drive that needs repaired. I don't want to violate any licensing agreements. Or,
am I resigned to buying another retail copy of Windows 7 Ultimate? Does the product key I use matter as long as it's for Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit and it's seen as valid during the repair install?

====================================end of results=======================

MCC george1009 already pointed out the tampered file information. I don't believe re-registering the OS using the product key will help me as I believe the IE 9 problems indiccte there's other files missing. However, if I'm wrong please let me
know - it wouldn't be the first time! I gratefully accept all guidance received.

Any guidance on doing the repair/custom install using the Windows 7 Ultimate DVD and the Windows Anytime Upgrade product key is appreciated. Thanks and regards to all! v/r, JRD

Answers

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! Also, thanks for the assessment - as before, I didn't want to be wasting your time. Way up at the top of this thread, my original question was how to do the repair install and what I'd need, since my Windows
7 Ultimate was a Windows Anytime Upgrade...

I have access to a full, licensed version of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 with both the 32-bit and 64-bit DVD discs. I also have the same thing that arrived by UPS yesterday, along with my new hard drive.

I think my safest bet right now is to plan on installing the new hard drive and loading it with the Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit OS as a new clean install. My current hard drive can remain in the computer as a slave drive and that way, I can move files
to the new drive as needed. The new drive will have more than enough room on it for me to completely copy the old drive's contents to it as well.

Thanks for the link to the Repair Install tutorial. I'm going to read it over and bookmark it so, once I have my computer back to normal or near-normal, I can try a repair install and see how badly it goes. That may be a week or more away.
When I do it, though, I'll post my results if you're interested.

Please let me know if there's a way I can buy you a couple pints or donate some cash to your favorite charity to reimburse you for your time. I do have a PayPal account...

A Custom Install won't format the drive but it will remove your programs and data. It is a "clean" install of the OS and all other files are moved to a windows.old folder. You will have to reinstall your programs from disk and your files from
your backup.

The Anytime Upgrade key is specific for upgrading from one edition of Windows 7 to another, in this case Home Premium to Ultimate. You cannot use it as a substitute for a straight Ultimate product key.

First I would try a system restore to a point prior to when the problems showed up. If you can't do that, run the System File Checker. Click Start, type 'cmd' in the Search/Run box, and right click on the CMD icon at the top of the results pane.
Select Run as Administrator. When the cmd window opens type 'sfc /scannow' at the prompt and hit Enter. When the scan completes close the cmd window.

If SFC does not fix the problems then you can try rebuilding the licensing store.

I may actually have a fix for the Tamper message – which may cure the other error.

However, it may be complex finding out exactly where the error lies, as it’s buried somewhere in the registry, and there are at least 37 possible locations for it – and I’ve never tried to talk anyone through the search before. (Not to mention the fact
that I may be completely off-track!)

If you’re game, then so am I – if not, then no problem, and we’ll see what we can do as far as alternatives are concerned.

Mr Barnhorst - sir, thanks for the reply! In answer to your guidance, I'm unable to do a system restore...as soon as I was hit with the malware/virus, I turned system restore off. (That, of course, deleted all my old restore points.) I
hadn't reactivated it yet since IE 9 was still having problems. (A prior bad experience with a nasty malware and Windows XP Pro taught me how this stuff keeps coming back to haunt me if I don't turn off System Restore before eradicating the malware.)
I have run SFC and it was after that action that the popup about the Windows OS not being valid started appearing. SFC did repair one or two files, but I don't remember which ones. I can try rebuilding the licensing store later today or
tomorrow (Windows Defender is running against the drive now in full scan mode), but that may not fix the deeper problems with the drive, I suspect.

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I'm willing to do the registry search if you want to try and walk me through it. Would you want me to follow Mr Barnhorst's instructions for rebuilding the licensing store first, and then re-run and post
the results of the WGA Diagnostic Tool as he's requested? I don't want to waste your time and Mr Barnhorst's steps may provide useful information to you. If I need to "bite the bullet" and accomplish a complete system reinstall after
formatting the hard drive, I'll man up, buy a new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on DVD, and press forward. I just was trying to avoid hours of reinstalling software programs and the like. I'm not certain I can make a valid backup of my programs
and files if the OS is damaged, but I can copy the disc to a new hard drive and eventually grab what I need from the copy. (I have plenty of room on the two other installed drives containing my music and video files.)

One other thing I should mention is that the hard disc in question is currently running IE 8, not IE 9. IE 8 seems to not want to link to web pages from a search results window, just like the IE 9 error...it'd open a new window but it'd just sit there.

The problem with installing original software fron disc has been with one specific program, Rovi Corp's Roxio Creator 2012 (both the stanard and the Pro versions). Rovi's techs have walked me through complete uninstalls and reinstalls, doing such things
as turning off all startup serives using the MSCONFIG command, creating and using a "clean" profile instead of my normal profile, etc. The big error I get after installing Creator 2012 is that, when loading the program, I get a Windows Installer popup
window that seems to finish configuring the program. When running an application inside Creator 2012, I get MS Viisual C++ Runtime errors. I've uninstalled and reinstall the MS Visual C++ 2008 runtime files per their direction. But, I'm thinking
the problem lies with my system missing other important files that are preventing the installation. The numerous attempts to uninstall/reinstall Creator 2012 have only helped me somehow "lose" the important files. I also have a "bad habit" of running
iolo's System Mechanic several times a week to clean up registry errors and unused files. I run the full system check and it'll normally report those things, and I let System Mechanic repair them for me.

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:3ebe285a-9732-47d2-8751-4ac6a43b5f12...

Mr Barnhorst - sir, thanks for the reply! In answer to your guidance, I'm unable to do a system restore...as soon as I was hit with the malware/virus, I turned system restore off. (That, of course, deleted all my old restore points.) I
hadn't reactivated it yet since IE 9 was still having problems. (A prior bad experience with a nasty malware and Windows XP Pro taught me how this stuff keeps coming back to haunt me if I don't turn off System Restore before eradicating the malware.)
I have run SFC and it was after that action that the popup about the Windows OS not being valid started appearing. SFC did repair one or two files, but I don't remember which ones. I can try rebuilding the licensing store later today or tomorrow
(Windows Defender is running against the drive now in full scan mode), but that may not fix the deeper problems with the drive, I suspect.

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I'm willing to do the registry search if you want to try and walk me through it. Would you want me to follow Mr Barnhorst's instructions for rebuilding the licensing store first, and then re-run and post
the results of the WGA Diagnostic Tool as he's requested? I don't want to waste your time and Mr Barnhorst's steps may provide useful information to you. If I need to "bite the bullet" and accomplish a complete system reinstall after formatting
the hard drive, I'll man up, buy a new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on DVD, and press forward. I just was trying to avoid hours of reinstalling software programs and the like. I'm not certain I can make a valid backup of my programs and files if
the OS is damaged, but I can copy the disc to a new hard drive and eventually grab what I need from the copy. (I have plenty of room on the two other installed drives containing my music and video files.)

One other thing I should mention is that the hard disc in question is currently running IE 8, not IE 9. IE 8 seems to not want to link to web pages from a search results window, just like the IE 9 error...it'd open a new window but it'd just sit there.

OK - I’ll jump:)
Colin’s advice won’t hurt, and may yield more information, so follow his instructions for a fresh Licensing Store first.

At the same time as you respond to that, please run the list of commands below in a Command Prompt window (see the bottom for instructions):-

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! My computer's almost done with the Windows Defender scan (8.5+ hous so far...it's scanning all installed hard drives and it's on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS drive now...). I may not be able to accomplish
everything tonight but I'll try. One question - you mentioned posting the results of the commands you provided in a text file to a SkyDrive. I don't know what a SkyDrive is and presume I don't have one. Is it something available to me as
a member of this forum? If not, is the results something I shouldn't try to post in my reply? Thanks for your guidance - regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:cfcdf07c-bb42-4d29-9fd2-f9aaf1f57661...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! My computer's almost done with the Windows Defender scan (8.5+ hous so far...it's scanning all installed hard drives and it's on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS drive now...). I may not be able to accomplish
everything tonight but I'll try. One question - you mentioned posting the results of the commands you provided in a text file to a SkyDrive. I don't know what a SkyDrive is and presume I don't have one. Is it something available to me as
a member of this forum? If not, is the results something I shouldn't try to post in my reply? Thanks for your guidance - regards! v/r, JRD

You do actually have a SkyDrive – you automatically got 25GB of cloud storage space when you signed up for your LiveID/Passport account to be able to access these forums :)

The results of the commands are likely to be around a 10-12KB text file – and way too long to make comfortable reading in the forum, as it may extend to something over 250 lines of text. (it’s going to be difficult enough to spot errors, without having
to read then in a short-width format like that here!)

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I ran Mr Barnhorst's commands and everything ran fine except for the "slui.exe" command. I waited several minutes but never saw the Windows Activation dialog, even though I saw a lot of apparent hard drive
activity (the power button flashes on the Alienware PC when hard drive activity occurs). I rebooted the computer, opened a CMD window as an administrator, cd'ed to the Windows\System32 directory, and ran the "net start sppsvc" and "slui.exe" commands
again - same result (no dialog appeared). I then re-ran the WGA Diagnostic Tool, and this time I received an error message - "Failed to create output files, hr=0x8007002. Please contact support."

I ran the commands you provided and created the output text file you indicated. I posted to my SkyDrive - hopefully, this is the link you need:

Please download it, extract the REG file from it, and then double-click the extracted file – it should ask if you want to merge the file to the registry, so say yes, and then approve the UAC prompt, reboot when you get the success message, and then run
another MGADiag report.

I do NOT expect any significant changes yet – but please post the new report anyhow, while I work out the next step.

Please download it, extract the REG file from it, and then double-click the extracted file – it should ask if you want to merge the file to the registry, so say yes, and then approve the UAC prompt, reboot when you get the success message, and then run
another MGADiag report.

I do NOT expect any significant changes yet – but please post the new report anyhow, while I work out the next step.

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the replies! Here's the answers I can provide to you...

1. REGSVR32 cmd - I got the "success" pop. The MGADiagTool report still showed the same Error: 0x8002801D line as well as the same "Tampered" line.

2. SLUIREG1.ZIP - I downloaded it, extracted the .reg file, and ran it. I then rebooted after the success message and re-ran the MGADiagTool. I've posted a text version of the report to my SkyDrive public folder. It's got a long
title that starts with WGADiagToolResults...

3. REG QUERY - I copied and pasted the 3 commands into an elevated CMD window. I've pasted the results into a text file and posted it to my SkyDrive Public folder. It's called REG QUERY results.txt.

I think it's the same link as before...I put the new files into the same folder.

As you mentioned the time, I'm located in the Washington, DC metro area (GMT -5 currently). I really appreciate the effort you're putting into this and I hope you're not depriving yourself of sleep. Once I sign off here, I'll be unable to check
back for any updates until tomorrow afternoon my time as I'll be at my job from approximately 0430 - 1400, with a 45-minute commute on each end. Checking for updates from the office won't help since my computer's at home. I'll look for your reply
tomorrow afternoon - regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:e52b470b-32a5-407e-a0ed-a0cdf1c90cd2...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the replies! Here's the answers I can provide to you...

1. REGSVR32 cmd - I got the "success" pop. The MGADiagTool report still showed the same Error: 0x8002801D line as well as the same "Tampered" line.

2. SLUIREG1.ZIP - I downloaded it, extracted the .reg file, and ran it. I then rebooted after the success message and re-ran the MGADiagTool. I've posted a text version of the report to my SkyDrive public folder. It's got a long title
that starts with WGADiagToolResults...

3. REG QUERY - I copied and pasted the 3 commands into an elevated CMD window. I've pasted the results into a text file and posted it to my SkyDrive Public folder. It's called REG QUERY results.txt.

That was interesting – I’ve posted another zip file SLUIZIP2.ZIP – same procedure as before, please, then reboot before running another MGADiag report.

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:e52b470b-32a5-407e-a0ed-a0cdf1c90cd2...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the replies! Here's the answers I can provide to you...

1. REGSVR32 cmd - I got the "success" pop. The MGADiagTool report still showed the same Error: 0x8002801D line as well as the same "Tampered" line.

2. SLUIREG1.ZIP - I downloaded it, extracted the .reg file, and ran it. I then rebooted after the success message and re-ran the MGADiagTool. I've posted a text version of the report to my SkyDrive public folder. It's got a long title
that starts with WGADiagToolResults...

3. REG QUERY - I copied and pasted the 3 commands into an elevated CMD window. I've pasted the results into a text file and posted it to my SkyDrive Public folder. It's called REG QUERY results.txt.

Sorry – ignore the latest post (Now deleted!), as I just discovered more entries that may be affecting things....

Please run the following commands and include the output in your results.

Mr Paton - sir, good day! I didn't see a SLUIZIP2.ZIP file on your SkyDrive - I saw a SLUIREG2.ZIP file which contained a SLUI-2.reg file. (The link you provided took me to my SkyDrive public folder, so I clicked the previous link you provided
to get to yours to get the SLUIREG2.ZIP file.) I received an error message saying "Cannot import - error accessing the registry." I'll reboot and try it again.

If it fails again, do you want me to just run the new REG QUERY commands as shown in the post I'm replying to? Please let me know at your convenience. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, I rebooted and tried the SLUI-2.REG file again. It still fails with the same message. Since the MGADiagTool should report the same results, and the first set of REG QUERY commands should also report the same results (as SLUI-2.REG
failed to merge), I ran the new REG QUERY commands you provided. I'll upload the results file to my SkyDrive public folder as REG_QUERY_2_RESULTS.TXT. Here's the link to the folder to make life easier: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=5dcfb43b075c01a3&id=5DCFB43B075C01A3%21139

I hope the file's contents are helpful to you. Thanks for the compliment about courage and patience. I believe you have the hardest role in this exchange. Plus, you haven't said "Format your hard drive and start over" yet...I may just break
down and buy a new one along with a full copy of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 and keep them at the ready. I can still slave in a couple more hard drives before the motherboard says enough! (It'll handle up to 8 SATA and 2 eSATA drives. So far,
I have 3 SATA drives and 1 IDE drive installed, and I have a 1200W power supply in there so I have a little room...it's a big desktop box!)

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:33f9b8f6-d04b-4daf-af02-5a055c52d93e...

Mr Paton - sir, good day! I didn't see a SLUIZIP2.ZIP file on your SkyDrive - I saw a SLUIREG2.ZIP file which contained a SLUI-2.reg file. (The link you provided took me to my SkyDrive public folder, so I clicked the previous link you provided
to get to yours to get the SLUIREG2.ZIP file.) I received an error message saying "Cannot import - error accessing the registry." I'll reboot and try it again.

If it fails again, do you want me to just run the new REG QUERY commands as shown in the post I'm replying to? Please let me know at your convenience. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

AAARGH! – I really have no idea what happened there!the file should be SLUIREG2.ZIP – it seems that I linked to your own folder, rather than mine (I thought I’d checked the link!)

Mr Paton - hi again! No problem on the link stuff...I'm staying up with you as far as I can tell.

The link marked "Download" didn't seem to go anywhere. I got back into your public folder and re-downloaded the SLUIREG2.ZIP file and tried to merge the SLUI-2.reg file. I got the same failure as before - "Error accessing the registry."

Hopefully, you'll be able to get to, and look at, the REG_QUERY_2_RESULTS.TXT file I uploaded after running the REG QUERY commands you provided.

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:f713797f-7051-49c2-8cc6-982d0c66209f...

Mr Paton - hi again! No problem on the link stuff...I'm staying up with you as far as I can tell.

The link marked "Download" didn't seem to go anywhere. I got back into your public folder and re-downloaded the SLUIREG2.ZIP file and tried to merge the SLUI-2.reg file. I got the same failure as before - "Error accessing the registry."

Hopefully, you'll be able to get to, and look at, the REG_QUERY_2_RESULTS.TXT file I uploaded after running the REG QUERY commands you provided.

I'll stand by and watch for your reply. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

To an extent, I’m not surprised by the ‘error’ message you got.

please continue with the set of REG QUERY commands in my later post – hopefully they’ll give use some more data to play with....

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I downloaded and tried the SLUIREG3.ZIP file. I got the same "error accessing registry" message. Here's the MGADiagTool results - maybe you'll see what is new that's preventing me from merging the registry
info you're sending me.

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:62e52e0c-ff9f-4939-845a-1708511ceded...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I downloaded and tried the SLUIREG3.ZIP file. I got the same "error accessing registry" message. Here's the MGADiagTool results - maybe you'll see what is new that's preventing me from merging the registry
info you're sending me.

Bother – it looks like something has taken your registry and given it a shake until it rattled. :(

The problem is one of permissions to access the affected keys – which requires taking ownership of the key, and making the required repairs, then (maybe) giving ownership back to the TrustedInstaller entity.

The problem as I see it currently is that we really have no idea whether other registry entries have been affected as well as the ones we know about – and the fact that my scripting skills are non-existent, and so can’t provide an easy way around this.

In the longer term, I really think you may be better off doing a repair install, or even a clean install, as that will at least guarantee that all registry entries are correct.

However, the latest query results did throw up one interesting anomaly..

Now you’ve learned how to change permissions , the we need to do that on a number of registry keys – but I’d rather takes them one at a time and use baby-steps – that way it’s easier to correct for mistakes on either your or my part :)

When I see your response, I’ll put up a reg file to hopefully repair that key (it should work one the permissions are OK) in a new folder in my SkyDrive – just for you – so that I can keep easier track of what’s happening.

When I edited the registry key, I didn't need to change the ownership or permissions. Also, I right-clicked on the key and used Expand, instead of using File/Export. (I did export the key to my desktop to do the editing but quickly realized the
work needed to be done from the REGEDIT display.)

I've pulled up the HKLM\SOFTWARE key above and I see I can edit it. I think I'm ready to go...I just want to make certain I'm not wasting your time. I don't have a problem doing the edits, even if it takes a while (days?!). If the end result
is that I'll still need to do a repair install or clean install, then please feel free to let me know if you feel I'm wasting your time. I did order a new hard drive and full copy of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 from an online retailer, and those items will
arrive tomorrow or Friday. (I firmly believe in the saying, "Expect the worst and hope for teh best...it'll fall somewhere in there!") If this work we're doing is allowing you to perfect some tips and techniques, or allowing you to really delve
into something you haven't had the chance to do - by all means, I'm ready to help! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:3ff0d98a-037d-4477-adb3-8eaf56cacf4b...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! Here's the results of the commands you asked me to run:

================end results======================

When I edited the registry key, I didn't need to change the ownership or permissions. Also, I right-clicked on the key and used Expand, instead of using File/Export. (I did export the key to my desktop to do the editing but quickly realized the
work needed to be done from the REGEDIT display.)

I've pulled up the HKLM\SOFTWARE key above and I see I can edit it. I think I'm ready to go...I just want to make certain I'm not wasting your time. I don't have a problem doing the edits, even if it takes a while (days?!). If the end result
is that I'll still need to do a repair install or clean install, then please feel free to let me know if you feel I'm wasting your time. I did order a new hard drive and full copy of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 from an online retailer, and those items will
arrive tomorrow or Friday. (I firmly believe in the saying, "Expect the worst and hope for teh best...it'll fall somewhere in there!") If this work we're doing is allowing you to perfect some tips and techniques, or allowing you to really delve
into something you haven't had the chance to do - by all means, I'm ready to help! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

OK one minor amendment to do to the first Key – I’ll put that in with the second....

Mr Paton - sir, hi again! I got to the new folder, named in my honor, and downloaded the FIX1.ZIP file. I extracted the FIX1.REG item and tried to merge it into my registry. I got the same "error accessing registry" message as I did yesterday.
Would you like me to reboot and try the MGADiagTool anyway? Or, do you want me to reboot and run the new REG QUERY commands for you? Please let me know at your convenience. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:a232e072-d891-433e-9cdd-e3e535f21571...

Mr Paton - sir, hi again! I got to the new folder, named in my honor, and downloaded the FIX1.ZIP file. I extracted the FIX1.REG item and tried to merge it into my registry. I got the same "error accessing registry" message as I did yesterday.
Would you like me to reboot and try the MGADiagTool anyway? Or, do you want me to reboot and run the new REG QUERY commands for you? Please let me know at your convenience. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Please reboot and run the latest command set – it may show something (I may simply have goofed!)

Mr Paton - sir, no problem on not getting back to me tonight. I just received a call to go help a friend whose car broke down in a shopping center parking lot. I need to shut down my computer and chances are good that I won't be back on tonight.
I'll look for your reply tomorrow after work and try the next steps you send me. Please enjoy a quiet evening - thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, good day! I'm back after last night's rescue (vehicle battery removal/exchange/install in the drizzling rain). Okay, I didn't have the TypeLib key but I did have the other. Its ownership was set as TrustedInstaller.
I changed the ownership to Administrators and assigned it Full Control rights. I saw TrustedInstaller still had Full Control rights, so I removed that right for TrustedInstaller - it only had Read rights then. I re-ran Fix1.reg and it ran successfully
this time. Then, I started thinking (hopefully not a dangerous thing!)...

After that, I re-ran the REG QUERY commands you'd provided. I saved those results in another text file and posted it in the NOEL folder.

The file names are hopefully obvious as to what they contain...the difference I figured I'd use is to append the date and my loacl time as to when the file was created. So, you'll see "MGADiagTool, 16 Feb 1547 EST.txt" and "Reg Query, 16 Feb, 1550
EST.txt" in there.

Please let me know if you can't get to the new public folder. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! Since I took yesterday afternoon off, I feel a bit guilty about getting a "free pass" now...I'll watch for anything else you may post. Please take your time - I'm accomplishing other stuff at the same time
so there's no no rush. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:39b60585-a05a-4c54-9f4e-ce9eb7985977...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! Since I took yesterday afternoon off, I feel a bit guilty about getting a "free pass" now...I'll watch for anything else you may post. Please take your time - I'm accomplishing other stuff at the same time so
there's no no rush. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, I went to the key and changed its ownership to Administrators from TrustedInstaller. I gave Administrators Full Control and allowed TrustedInstaller to keep Full Control. When I downloaded, extracted, and tried to merge the Fix2.reg
file, I got this error message: "Cannot import ...Fix2.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes." (Could that be the TrustedInstaller being allowed to
keep Full Control?)

Mr Paton - sir, I don't see Fix3, Fix4, or Fix5 posted to the JAMES folder in your SkyDrive. I c hecked the new NOEL folder I created and they're not in there either. Also, when I edited the first key, Administrators was already the owner, without
Full Control. I clicked the "Replace all Child..." box after giving it Full Control and when I was done, it didn't seem to inherit anything. I saw <Not Inherited> out to the right in the Inherited From column.

I'll hold off on the rest of the instructions until you post the Fix3, Fix4, and Fix5 files. If it's not until tomorrow, that's fine - you deserve an early night! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:001423e1-1385-427d-bd42-b2b4656e3f01...

Mr Paton - sir, I don't see Fix3, Fix4, or Fix5 posted to the JAMES folder in your SkyDrive. I c hecked the new NOEL folder I created and they're not in there either. Also, when I edited the first key, Administrators was already the owner, without
Full Control. I clicked the "Replace all Child..." box after giving it Full Control and when I was done, it didn't seem to inherit anything. I saw <Not Inherited> out to the right in the Inherited From column.

I'll hold off on the rest of the instructions until you post the Fix3, Fix4, and Fix5 files. If it's not until tomorrow, that's fine - you deserve an early night! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, I had a nice reply typed out and then screwed up and lost it! In brief - FIX3.REG gave me the same error message I got after FIX2.REG about "Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system
or other processes." Then, when using REGEDIT for the last edit (on KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{EE574957-4077-4AD6-8658-327C2C86C5AA} ), I got a message that the permission groups were out of order and needed to be reordered or else
it'd open in read-only mode. I went ahead and reordered and was able to finish the edit. All the keys were owned by the Administrators Group; I ensured that group also had Full Control. I also checked both boxes in the Advanced Security Settings
window before closing each editor window.

I've posted two files in the NOEL public folder in my SkyDrive. The files, MGADiagTool Results.txt and REG QUERIES.txt, contain the results of those items (running the MGADiagTool or running the query you provided in an elevated command window)
after running the FIX3.REG, FIX4.REG, and FIX5.REG items and rebooting each time.

The same error code appears in the Licensing Data area of the MGADiagTool results each time. I didn't see anything flagrant in the REG QUERY results.

I hope you have/had a good evening and got to relax/unwind a bit. If you need more downtime over the weekend, just let me know. I received the new hard drive and software I ordered, so I have a project that'll keep me busy for a couple hours
over the weekend. (Besides any other chores or projects someone else hands off to me!) Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:556e662c-de5c-46f7-816f-8bc1c56b2883...

Then, when using REGEDIT for the last edit (on KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\TypeLib\{EE574957-4077-4AD6-8658-327C2C86C5AA} ), I got a message that the permission groups were out of order and needed to be reordered or else it'd open in read-only mode.
I went ahead and reordered and was able to finish the edit. All the keys were owned by the Administrators Group; I ensured that group also had Full Control. I also checked both boxes in the Advanced Security Settings window before closing each
editor window.

That is not good news – it hints at much more deep-seated problems than I’d bargained on.

The implication is that the registry is so corrupted that we could spend months on it, and you’d still have problems.. :(

The question now is whether even a repair install would fix things properly, or whether you’d be better off with a clean install.

Please see the Repair Install tutorial at
Repair Install which gives a very good set of instructions.

What type of WIn7 disk do you have? Is it one with SP1 included on it or not? If not, you be best to download one with it in.

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! Also, thanks for the assessment - as before, I didn't want to be wasting your time. Way up at the top of this thread, my original question was how to do the repair install and what I'd need, since my Windows
7 Ultimate was a Windows Anytime Upgrade...

I have access to a full, licensed version of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 with both the 32-bit and 64-bit DVD discs. I also have the same thing that arrived by UPS yesterday, along with my new hard drive.

I think my safest bet right now is to plan on installing the new hard drive and loading it with the Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit OS as a new clean install. My current hard drive can remain in the computer as a slave drive and that way, I can move files
to the new drive as needed. The new drive will have more than enough room on it for me to completely copy the old drive's contents to it as well.

Thanks for the link to the Repair Install tutorial. I'm going to read it over and bookmark it so, once I have my computer back to normal or near-normal, I can try a repair install and see how badly it goes. That may be a week or more away.
When I do it, though, I'll post my results if you're interested.

Please let me know if there's a way I can buy you a couple pints or donate some cash to your favorite charity to reimburse you for your time. I do have a PayPal account...

Thanks for the link to the Repair Install tutorial. I'm going to read it over and bookmark it so, once I have my computer back to normal or near-normal, I can try a repair install and see how badly it goes. That may be a week or more away.
When I do it, though, I'll post my results if you're interested.

Please let me know if there's a way I can buy you a couple pints or donate some cash to your favorite charity to reimburse you for your time. I do have a PayPal account...

Thanaks and regards! v/r, JRD

No problem, and no payment required.

I do this to learn, as much as anything else, and this thread has taught me a lot that I didn’t know about before.

Sorry we couldn’t sort it for you without having a reinstall – but registry corruption is a different beast altogether from a few missing or erroneous entries, and even sitting at the machine myself, I’d go that route, rather than try and fix a registry
that may have tens of thousands of errors. (...and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a registry ’cleaner’ program would help – it could well tip the machine over the edge into total unresponsiveness! )

Thanks for being a patient, and helpful client - and good luck with the new install.

Mr Paton - sir, good day! I wanted to check back in and let you know the Repair Install appears to have worked fine. I followed the steps in the Repair Install article you provided the link to in your 17 February/0836 post. It took almost
3.5 hours from start to finish. Afterwards, I had almost 80 updates to apply in several iterations of checking Windows Update. I was able to activate the repaired installation using my Windows Anytime Upgrade product key.

I've been able to do a repair install (via running the original installation disc and choosing Repair) of the Roxio Creator 2012 program that helped get me into trouble, and it's now working fine. I haven't upgraded my browser to IE 9 yet but intend
to do so. The only problem I'm having now involves my Vipre Antivirus Premium...I've had to uninstall it and the first reinstallation attempt failed. (It was looking for a specific .sys file and I thought I pointed it to the right one...but
I got the "Blue Screen of Death" as a result.) I'll try it again and since I have original software and a paid subscription, I'm certain their tech support can help me.

A question I wanted to ask you, now that I'm "repaired" is - do you have a registry cleaner/repair software you recommend? I'm leery of running my System Mechanic as I believe it's cleaning actions over time added to my problems. If you
have a program you recommend, I'd be interested in checking it out.

One last item of note - at some point over the last week, I quit getting the "Your Windows is not genuine" messages when I started my computer. I don't know if the combination of the various steps you had me attempt, coupled with something else, restored
enough functionality to turn off the prompt, or if it quits appearing on its own after a certain number of days.

I look forward to any recommendations you have for a registry cleaner/repair software program. Have a great weekend! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

A question I wanted to ask you, now that I'm "repaired" is - do you have a registry cleaner/repair software you recommend? I'm leery of running my System Mechanic as I believe it's cleaning actions over time added to my problems. If you have
a program you recommend, I'd be interested in checking it out.

One last item of note - at some point over the last week, I quit getting the "Your Windows is not genuine" messages when I started my computer. I don't know if the combination of the various steps you had me attempt, coupled with something else, restored
enough functionality to turn off the prompt, or if it quits appearing on its own after a certain number of days.

I look forward to any recommendations you have for a registry cleaner/repair software program. Have a great weekend! Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

DO NOT use any form of registry ‘cleaner’ – they frequently are the cause of worse problems than they can ever solve!

Windows generally does a pretty good job of housekeeping in the registry – the problem is the quality of software you install into it. So long as you stick will well-written software, it will uninstall cleanly if necessary, and you should have no
problems. If you are in the habit of installing poorly-written software, then nothing is going to save you, and you should take frequent backups, and be prepared to use them.

Having said that, I never use a registry cleaner, and install all sorts of rubbish on my PC’s, and tend to be fairly lax about system maintenance – but I never have to reinstall, and so far have not had any problems with WGA myself.

It may be a good idea to post a new MGADiag report on your system so that we can check the results )

I have noticed a couple small issues, and so far I can resolve them. The antivirus issue turned out to be a .sys driver was in a different location than where the installation program expected it to be. I located all the copies and compared
the creation dates and versions, and determined the correct one. When I attempted the reinstall this morning, I pointed the program to the correct (older) version and it installed and ran fine. When I applied the new version upgrade, it also
ran fine. I also use WinZip and had problems with it this morning...a new update that I'd delayed installing popped up today. When I tried running it, it gave me an error because it couldn't locate some language files. I uninstalled the version
I had and tried installing an older version, and got an error. WinZip's website walked me through a manual uninstall, including deletion of a registry key, and I accomplished those steps. I could then reinstall the first iteration (WinZip 16.0),
got it running, and installed the newest version (WinZip 16 IL3). I'm hoping I'm not going to go through similar steps for other software updates/upgrades.

I think I'll keep running my System Mechanic but I won't blindly accept the registry cleaning actions it suggests. Many times, it identifies keys that don't point to anything (remnants left behind by old uninstalls?) that should be safe to delete.
I'll have to look at the suggested edits and choose wisely. I will let it compact the registry as required. I've also got System Restore turned back on as well while I get used to some new backup software (Acronis TrueImage Home) I got with
the new hard drive and Windows 7 Ultimate software.

Please let me know if you see anything "funny" in the MGADiagTool results above. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I did navigate over to the website you provided and manually validated that my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate is recognized as genuine.

The Office Enterprise 2007 software you noticed is registered. I purchased it through my company's MS Home Use Program (HUP) agreement. It has all the stuff I use at my office, plus a few features they didn't enable for us. While I haven't
used most of the features yet, I like having them installed in case my company decides to activate them and then forgets to train us on them!

Thanks again for all the help - have a great weekend! Regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:30c362d2-6b9c-4e5f-b3eb-1909a61774ce...

Mr Paton - sir, thanks for the reply! I did navigate over to the website you provided and manually validated that my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate is recognized as genuine.

The Office Enterprise 2007 software you noticed is registered. I purchased it through my company's MS Home Use Program (HUP) agreement. It has all the stuff I use at my office, plus a few features they didn't enable for us. While I haven't
used most of the features yet, I like having them installed in case my company decides to activate them and then forgets to train us on them!

Thanks again for all the help - have a great weekend! Regards! v/r, JRD

Mr Paton - sir, you were a great help! I probably didn't learn as much as you may have, but I was encouraged enough by your responses to try things you suggested. If you get bored and want to help me take on the IE 9 challenge I have, I'd welcome
the help.

I have a second PC at the house and whenever I start IE 9, I get a pop-up window advising that a program (not further identified) has corrupted my default search provider. It then opens the Manage Add-Ons/Search Providers page. Bing is set as
the default, but Bing has been uninstalled. The buttons to "Set as default" or "Remove" are greyed out. If I select a different search provider (e.g., Google), the "Set as default" button is active but I'm unable to set a new default search provider.

I'd posted the dilemma in the IE 9 forums and have heard back from the Bing Technical Support folks, but their advice hasn't helped. The last advice included steps on manually uninstalling Bing, and only 1 of the 17 steps even applied to my situation.
I'm thinking that there's a registry key that's been damaged that keeps Bing "alive" when it's been otherwise uninstalled.

No rush on a reply...IE 9 works well otherwise. The popup window only appears whenever I start IE 9 - if I close it, it doesn't reappear while I'm browsing.

I look forward to any guidance you can provide. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD

"James DeSantis" wrote in message news:34c40a75-bb98-42dd-a524-6ef2c637977c...

I have a second PC at the house and whenever I start IE 9, I get a pop-up window advising that a program (not further identified) has corrupted my default search provider. It then opens the Manage Add-Ons/Search Providers page. Bing is set as
the default, but Bing has been uninstalled. The buttons to "Set as default" or "Remove" are greyed out. If I select a different search provider (e.g., Google), the "Set as default" button is

I look forward to any guidance you can provide. Thanks and regards! v/r, JRD